In Hungary, Viktor Orban is using the pandemic to boost himself from Prime Minister to straight-up fascist dictator, pushing through a bill that gives him power to rule by decree indefinitely, and doing away with future elections. Around the world, from Duterte in the Philippines to Netanyahu in Israel, authoritarian leaders are making good on the advice to “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Strongmen everywhere are ratcheting up on surveillance and oppression, silencing journalists, and jailing activists, tightening their grip on power.
Yet here in the good old US of A, while there is a certain amount of neo-fascist activity, the main opportunity Trump-land senses is less about a power grab, and more about the golden grift.
Let’s face it, governing is hard, even governing by decree. Being a dictator requires drive and focus and a certain primitive shrewdness, if not actual intelligence. The Trumpistas -- Rand Paul, Matt Gaetz, Devin Nunes, and Trump himself -- are all second-and-third generation sons of privileged corruption. They’re Fredo, not the Godfather; they’re Uday and Qusay, not Saddam; Napoleon III, not Napoleon. Bullying and punching down, sure, they’ll do that, sporadically or under direction. But conducting a long-term campaign to consolidate power and institute iron-fisted rule…? I’m just not seeing it with these guys.
Instead we have Trump trying to shaft the tiny Wampanoag Indian tribe to avenge his own failures in the casino business. Sure, he’ll elbow aside his own spokespeople at pressers to grab the limelight -- but could he beat back a real power grab from a well-organized and fearless opponent? Doubtful. He’ll call a female reporter “nasty” but is he going to have her secretly killed and dismembered and the body dissolved? Unlikely. It's disgraceful that Trump calls Mohammed “Bonesaw” bin Salman a friend, but he's not going to emulate his handling of the press.
Trump wants the press to “be nice” to him. He wants to bathe in their jocular admiration, like Al Capone in The Untouchables – a laugh, a wink, a nod, and all boys together. Instead, he gets lectured by a disapproving Jim Acosta, who comes off as a scold instead of a hero because Capone was a savage and terrifying sociopath, where Donald Trump is just a blustering clown. We don’t get heroes now, because it’s all just pig-wrestling: “You both get dirty and the pig likes it.”
With Trump in power, this is not the age of heroes. But it is the golden age of GRIFT! Donny “Bone Spurs” understands that; that he knows! And he supports it! The cheesier and sleazier, the better. In the middle of the current crisis/opportunity, Trump summons captains of industry to share his podium in the Rose Garden -- the CEOs of Walmart, Target, Walgreens, CVS, etc. -- to represent the industrial might of the nation. Just this Monday he summoned corporate executives from Honeywell, Procter and Gamble, Jockey and United Technologies. And then, this guy:
Will this characteristic in our leadership help protect America from a full-on fascist takeover? I’m not sure; I think it might. And honestly, I don’t know whether to be relieved or embarrassed.
